Dear Sunday School families,
We apologize for an error in the official 2024-2025 Sunday School calendar. Thanksgiving takes place this year on November 28th, not November 24th, as we marked on the original calendar released. There are classes on Sunday, November 24th. However, classes will not be held on Sunday, December 1, 2024. The modified calendar for November and December is below.
NOVEMBER
November 3: Worship and Classes, Spark Sunday
November 10: Worship and Classes
November 15: Advent/Nativity Fast Begins
November 17: Worship and Classes. Registration for Christmas Pageant in the Community Center following the Divine Liturgy.
November 24: Worship and Classes. Registration for Christmas Pageant in the Community Center following the Divine Liturgy.
DECEMBER
December 1: No classes, Thanksgiving Break
December 8: Worship and Classes, Spark Sunday, Christmas Pageant Practice # 1
December 15: Worship and Classes, Christmas Pageant Practice # 2
December 22: No Classes, Christmas Pageant immediately following the Divine Liturgy.
Christmas Pageant
This year the St. Luke Christmas Pageant, a highlight of the Sunday School year, will take place following the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, December 22, 2024. There are no classes that day. Two mandatory rehearsals for the pageant are scheduled on December 8th and 15th, immediately following the Divine Liturgy. Each rehearsal will take approximately one hour. Please be on the lookout soon for a letter containing all of the necessary information about the pageant, including details about how to sign up your children to participate in this wonderful Christmas tradition.
Sunday School Communications
Throughout the year, our Directors and Sunday School teachers will be in touch with you via text and email with Sunday School news, so please be sure that we have your up-to-date contact information. Some of you may have already received the message. If you didn’t get the text, please do the following: Text @stlukes23 to 81010 – see below:
In addition, join us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, photos, community service opportunities and more:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1572M7Nvic/,
and Instagram:
Sunday School Thanksgiving Outreach
The St. Luke Sunday School is currently collecting Thanksgiving-themed paper plates, napkins, cups, tablecloths, aluminum pans, and serving spoons for a Thanksgiving meal for 300 incarcerated women at the Philadelphia Industrial Corrections Center (PICC). This annual Sunday School outreach to 300 women incarcerated on the Thanksgiving holiday is coordinated with the charity Why Not Prosper, which serves both presently and previously incarcerated women by offering them a hand up, not a hand out (https://www.why-not-prosper.org/). If you are able to contribute to this initiative, please use this link to commit to donating one or more items:
Items may be left in the bin in the lobby of the Education Building until Friday, November 10, 2024. Donations cannot be accepted after Nov. 10 as we will be delivering our items to Why Not Prosper immediately thereafter. We thank you in advance for your consideration of this request and for teaching our children by your actions to follow our Lord's teaching: ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25: 40.
Readers for Divine Liturgy
Please encourage your children to volunteer to read the Epistle or the Communion Prayer during Divine Liturgy. This is a great way for your child to become involved in the worship of our faith. We will send you the reading(s) ahead of time so that your child can practice and become comfortable with the texts beforehand. To volunteer your child, please contact please contact our Directors at stlukesundayschool@gmail.com.
2025 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival
As soon as the 2025 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival topics are released, we will send them to the teachers and to the families of 7th -9th graders (Junior Division), and 10th-12th graders (Senior Division). The Festival begins at the parish level, then successful participants may advance to the District, Metropolis, then National levels. Here is some general information about the Oratorical Festival: participants at the National Finals receive awards from the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival Scholarship Fund, ranging from $500 to $2000, the Faith Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism Scholarships, and the Chrysostom Scholarship Program of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.
Parents, please discuss this opportunity for your children to delve deeper into their faith by asking them to review the topics, when released, and by encouraging them to participate in the first step of the Oratorical Festival ladder, the St. Luke Parish Oratorical Festival. Further details will be forthcoming, but the parish festival is projected to take place in either February or March 2024. For questions about the Parish Oratorical Festival, please contact Art Karros, akarros@gmail.com, or Peter Pavlis, ppavlis7104@gmail.com.
Have you registered your child for Sunday School yet?
If not, no problem! To register your child or children, click on the following link: https://www.ss.st-luke.org/registration
Questions about Sunday School?
Please contact our Directors, Jane Kelly, Panayota Kevgas, and Sophia Milinkovic at stlukesundayschool@gmail.com for more information about Sunday School. Or, visit https://www.ss.st-luke.org, which will be updated throughout the year with additional information and resources for families.